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Anyone who watched 'The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters' knows the epic struggle for global Kong dominance waged by Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell. Wiebe took back the crown by scoring 1,064,500-points which was officially verified. And if you haven't seen the movie, go watch it. You won't be sorry.

Billy Mitchell really came off as a douche willing to do whatever it takes to win, including cheat. Although, with any type of editing, it's easy for the author to portray a person in whatever way they choose.

The filmmaker did a fabulous job of creating a compelling story with interesting characters, where there was no story, and nothing but boring people. All the scripted 'reality' directors on TV these days should take note of this film, it should be their Citizen Kane.

However, I wouldn't infer too much about what people are really like based on it.

Think of the editting of Homer's TV NewsZine interview when he was accused of sexual harassment.

Yeah it's been stated that the movie's editing makes certain things seem different than how they went down. Stuff like how Billy Mitchell's videotaped score being rejected the following day and Walter Day apologizing to Weibe. And when Weibe's videotaped score was rejected, the record reverted to the other record he set in 2003, not to Mitchell. And Weibe has stated that the scene in the restaurant where Mitchell avoids him leaves out the part that came later where Mitchell came over and apologized for being rude and introduced his wife.

Weibe is the everyman character we all identify with and Mitchell has an abrasive personality that make for an excellent film. But both men agree that the movie doesn't portray them correctly. Still, it's a great film. What I wonder is - will there ever be a DK score that's literally impossible to beat?

Twin Galaxies [slashdot.org] also has an interesting writeup on the creative license taken by the movie. Don't forget that the apology letter Weibe received was actually immediately after the FunSpot videotape incident, and not years later as implied by editing.

It's a great movie. It takes the rather dry world of competitive video game playing, and turns it into something eminently watchable. But don't pillory Mitchell for how the filmmakers edited him to seem.

You've never had an off day where you blow up at someone, but then come back to your senses and apologise for it? All that editing needs to do is drop the apology, and you look like a douchebag. With full context, i.e., the apology, you suddenly look much more like a normal human being.

You've never had an off day where you blow up at someone, but then come back to your senses and apologise for it?

Nope, and never really understood people who do. As much as I have a lot of bad to say about my childhood, it had one positive. I learned very early to not say anything unless I meant it, and I was prepared to face the consequences. It gets a bit tedious hearing adults making excuses for themselves for behavior that I got past as a little kid.

...it's easy for the author to portray a person in whatever way they choose.

Amen - I hoped that just because someone makes a movie and calls it a 'documentary' that it doesn't mean the folks making it aren't biased. As much as I didn't like Billy Mitchell's banter and seeming lack of maturity/humility - it became painfully obvious what the documentary producers wanted us to take away. Namely, a mild-mannered, underdog family guy from Washington beats a cocky gamer pro. Personally, I was really interest

After watching King of Kong I'm extremely happy to hear Wiebe is back on top. Something about Billy Mitchell has never sat right with me.

Perhaps how the 'documentary' demonized him [slashdot.org]? Is he egotistical and full of himself? Probably. But it seems the documentary was either not entirely truthful or misrepresented time lines. I met Walter Day at the Mall of America in college and will say that in the few minutes I chatted with him he was the kindest and most honest person I have met. If Walter Day doesn't think Billy Mitchell is pure evil than neither do I. If Billy had tried to do anything truly sinister I think Day would have short circuited it and I'm not clear on whether or not the mailed in tape that beat Wiebe in the documentary was actually accepted.

I'd be careful to accept something as truth when it could have made for gripping cinema. Mitchell is such a villain in the documentary that it's almost too good to be true when juxtaposing him to Wiebe.

I would caution your "doesn't sit right with me" assessment from a film and point out it's probably as reliable as anything meant to entertain someone can be. Yeah there's probably some truth to it. But Mitchell is no more purely evil than Wiebe is purely good. Selective footage can make it seem that way though. Before you jump all over Mitchell I would suggest you read the this [mtv.com] and meet him first. You've selected one single source that is a highly entertaining movie and it has a very high chance of being unfairly biased to represent an epic battle between good and evil. They may be foils of each other in several ways but I would imagine some of it is manufactured to put you on Wiebe's side. Mitchell's devoted a lot of his life to video games and has held other records. The documentary really doesn't seem to investigate the positives of Mitchell as much as it does Wiebe.

After watching King of Kong I'm extremely happy to hear Wiebe is back on top. Something about Billy Mitchell has never sat right with me.

Perhaps how the 'documentary' demonized him [slashdot.org]? Is he egotistical and full of himself? Probably. But it seems the documentary was either not entirely truthful or misrepresented time lines. I met Walter Day at the Mall of America in college and will say that in the few minutes I chatted with him he was the kindest and most honest person I have met. If Walter D

I agree that Billy Mitchell seemed like a villain in the movie. Without a villain there aren't heroes though, and without Billy Mitchell there wouldn't be a "King of Kong" and hardly anyone would care who holds the high score in a game from 1981.
Where would professional wrestling be without guys like Billy Mitchell? I don't know, but no one would care.

Did you miss the "Jedi mind tricks" line?Day _admitted_ that he made a mistake, both b reversng it, and later apologetically in writing. No matter how nice and honest he is, perhaps because of that, he's clearly manipulable. And Mitchell is clearly assertive, so could exploit that with things less high tech than real Jedi mind tricks. Day probably trusted Mruczek (or whatever his name was, I'm not familiar with the characters, and simply downloaded the movie for a quick view this evening) too much too. I'd

Even as much as I love classic arcade games, I haven't seen the movie. Everything I've read about the movie casts it as over-edited to the point of being fictionalized. Here's just one such review [textfiles.com].

That review was written by "Jason Scott". Scroll down that review to post 41 to see what kind of person he is. I'm not saying he's factually incorrect (since I can't verify his claims), but he certainly does _not_ have an unbiased and objective view of the subject.

-------

Jason Scott wrote:

Salutations, Ignorant Fuck.

A number of weblogs recently linked to this page from out of the blue, leading me to believe you jostled among them and found yourself reading this entry. This might explain your commentary on a page written in February, with multiple clarifying followups, that has otherwise been superceded elsewhere in the five months hence.

As I sincerely doubt that your filmmaking and film watching career harkens back to the exact moment your choking, bloodied infant form issued forth from your screaming mother, I will assume that you are one of those folks who takes a number of liberties when he constructs his scribbled opinions in the heat of emotion and ignorance. Therefore let me say the following, in an easy to understand list:

1. This movie and my movie are not the same movie; they did not steal my idea and I did not steal theirs and they do not overlap in subject matter.

2. I am making several movies.

3. While movies are, by their nature, edited products, out and out lies and misrepresentation opposite to reality are generally not what people should find “at the finish line” when they assemble their footage.

Enjoy your filmmaking career and die, slowly and alone, forgotten but for your distant-faced caretakers.

That review was written by "Jason Scott". Scroll down that review to post 41 to see what kind of person he is. I'm not saying he's factually incorrect (since I can't verify his claims), but he certainly does _not_ have an unbiased and objective view of the subject.

I don't see him as taking sides in the debate between Wiebe/Mitchell so much as refuting the way in which the events were portrayed, which, as pointed out elsewhere here, is a very valid statement.

Scott's opinions were clearly (and more intelligently) posted in his actual blog posts - what you quoted above is just him falling for trollbait, really. The previous comment (#40) basically calls him petty for pointing out that the film was heavily edited to show a story, not to provide a literal documentation o

I'm very happy that he won, but is he still married? From the documentary, it looked like his playing was tough on his family life. I couldn't imagine how much more dedication would be needed to beat Mitchell's top score--probably a lot more than what we saw in the movie.

Watch the movie. In short, when you get to the 256th board (or 255th, I forget), you are able to play for about 5 seconds. Then Mario simply dies for no good reason, and the game goes all buggy with random sprites and such. What he wrote was a quote from the movie.

It's a quote from a silly scene in the movie. Some geeky guy runs around the arcade telling everybody that someone is about to reach the "kill-screen" of the game, as if it were a momentous occasion.

A "kill-screen" in a game is when the high score overflows its boundaries and corrupts the rest of memory, typically video memory, which causes the game to display in a way that is unplayable. The result is either the game crashing or the player losing a game life.

A "kill-screen" in a game is when the high score overflows its boundaries and corrupts the rest of memory, typically video memory, which causes the game to display in a way that is unplayable. The result is either the game crashing or the player losing a game life.

-dZ.

You're a little off. Scores overflowing don't usually cause this type of issue. They could, but it's less likely.

Kill screens are typically because of either the number of lives or the level of the game goes beyond 127 (or 255).

PacMan for example has the issue when you go beyond Level 255, the level goes back to 0. The level is used as an offset. Well, for the normal game (when the game starts), the offset is 1. Think of it as accessing an Array outside its bounds. So what you wind up with is the famous split screen that you can't get past.

Gravitar (and a whole host of other games) has an issue with the number of lives if you go beyond 127 because it uses a signed integer to track the number of lives. So once you hit your 129th extra life, the game actually thinks you have -2 lives. Then you die, it subtracts 1, you now have less then 1 life left and you die, game over.

In the case of Donkey Kong, it's based on the number of levels as the game dies in the same exact spot every time.

Now maybe he can spend some time with his kids. The scene in the documentary with him playing DK while his kids were asking for his help really depressed me. I'm not saying he's a bad guy, I just hope he uses this as an impetus to start being a dad.

Marriage is hard. In fact, it's harder than many contents. Just look at Lance Armstrong. It was easier for him to win 7 consecutive Tour de France titles than for him to be married. His cycling career was very successful, while his marriage was a failure.

Indeed. If anything I think the kid needed that lesson. If he cut himself with scissors, I'm sure his father would have come running. He was four years of age, and wanted his father to come wipe is butt. At some point, a kid needs to understand that he's not the center of the universe, and he can do some things on his own. At some point, you have to let a baby cry itself to sleep, and at some point, a kid needs to wipe his own butt.

And? I don't think the best time to determine when your child is ready is when it happen to be inconvenient to video game playing.And you certainly don't just stop helping with talking to the child about it. The reeks of apathy toward the child, and Apathy is the opposite of love.

I didn't see them movie, so the kid could be 20 for all I know, but your attitude is wrong and exemplifies bad parenting.

Of course not. The time to determine that is weeks or months earlier. The time to put that into practice is when you are doing something more important, such as pursuing a personally fulfilling hobby.

I take this lesson from being a child and getting out of the bath, when my mom had some friends over. I waited for her to come dry me off, then called out to her that I was ready to get out, and her reply was "okay" and she kept on her conversation with her friend. That day I learned to dry off my own body, and

Then I think that should be the beginning and end of your advice about parenting.

Hmmm, Are you saying we can no longer learn by observing?Are you saying that we should not pass on info on things we have learned by observing?Are you saying that the poster was raised by wolves and has had no chance to observe successes and failures when it comes to human parenting?would you say the eldest of 12 children in a nice Irish Catholic family will not have parenting experience until they have kids of their own?

Are you suggesting that you would raise your children through a strict program of trial and error?Would you only accept info from other certified parents, say like Jenny McCarthy's followers do?

Just because you have bred, doesn't make you the exclusive holder of all knowledge about parenting.

We all get a chance to see people succeed and fail at parenting (and many other things), every day. If we are smart we file these into "good idea" "bad idea" tables so we have this info accessible should we ever leave Slashdot and breed.

Then I think that should be the beginning and end of your advice about parenting.

Hmmm, Are you saying we can no longer learn by observing?Are you saying that we should not pass on info on things we have learned by observing?

That's the thing, you don't gain expertise by observing. You learn by doing. It's easy to be the "armchair quarterback", but if you're not in it yourself, you're not in a position to say what is and isn't a good idea when parenting.

And, actually, someone else mentioned Uwe Boll - I do think this applies to movie directors, too. Not that I feel much sympathy for them when I spend $20+ to see a load of cinematic garbage, but if you're not a filmmaker yourself, you're really not qualified to give advice on

Dude... believe it or not... sometimes doing the things that you love helps you be a better dad. His kids are probably much happier than if he kept that tension locked inside of him just so he can spend more time with them and yes, be happy to be with them. Some call it "cave time" - ie, get out of my face so I can process. Otherwise, internal tension would be released in other ways to the detriment of the entire family which is far worse.

And really, kids will crawl all over you no matter what you do. I work from home and the days when my daughter isn't at daycare when my wife is home, she's basically jumping on my computer for my attention. Put a camera crew in my room and I'd look like a workaholic neglectful dad.

Dude... believe it or not... sometimes doing the things that you love helps you be a better dad. His kids are probably much happier than if he kept that tension locked inside of him just so he can spend more time with them and yes, be happy to be with them. Some call it "cave time" - ie, get out of my face so I can process. Otherwise, internal tension would be released in other ways to the detriment of the entire family which is far worse.

And really, kids will crawl all over you no matter what you do. I work from home and the days when my daughter isn't at daycare when my wife is home, she's basically jumping on my computer for my attention. Put a camera crew in my room and I'd look like a workaholic neglectful dad.

What a bunch of self indulgent horse shit. Kids can crawl all over you while you smoke, get drunk and slap them around. But that wouldn't make you a good dad. It would make you an abusive drunk asshole. Just because you're around your kids doesn't mean you're giving them what they need. You have to limit the "me" time to something reasonable and even during that me time set a good example. Can't believe shit like yours gets modded up. Goes to show most slashdotters might know a lot about tech but are selfis

Self indulgent? For taking care of myself so I can take care of my family? How is that irresponsible? How can you teach your children about the world when you're too exhausted to live in it?

Can't believe shit like yours gets modded up. Goes to show most slashdotters might know a lot about tech but are selfish idiots who know nothing about child rearing.

You infer that I'm irresponsible although you don't me, then call everyone an idiot who disagrees with you... tell me... what kind of example are you setting for your kids? Sounds to me that you need some time off. Just sayin'.

Guess what: Raising kids properly IS exhausting. Especially when they're young. Sure you should take some time off for yourself, but there's a difference between that and doing nothing but taking car of yourself and letting the kids work around that the way you imply.

As for not knowing you, sure, I don't know you. But on the one hand you bemoan the fact that I don't know you and can't possibly criticise you, then you start speculating that I need to take some time off??? Do you know what hypocrisy means!?

What a troll. He's talking about working hours and having kids at home at that time for whatever circumstance. Would you call him indulgent if he was clocking in an office without even being near his kids for 8-10 hours a day?

What a troll. He's talking about working hours and having kids at home at that time for whatever circumstance. Would you call him indulgent if he was clocking in an office without even being near his kids for 8-10 hours a day?

First, he was talking about "doing the things you love" not spending time with his family.

Second, you don't know the difference between a troll and a different opinion or a difference in circumstance.

If the only way you can make ends meet is to work 100hr weeks or walk 6 kilometers to fetch water for your family then that is quite simply what you have to do to support them. Then, when you've done that you can talk about time with the family and time for yourself. All this self obsessed I just need me time c

Doing the things you love energizes you to contribute back to the people you love. Just as doing things you hate will ultimately suck energy from the people around you. Have you ever met someone who has joyfully hated their job? If so, those people are probably sacrificing their current happiness for long term gain which is also an important thing to learn.

Yes, we all have to do things we don't like. That's part of life, but that doesn't mean we have to embody the negativity those activities might creat

Doing the things you love energizes you to contribute back to the people you love. Just as doing things you hate will ultimately suck energy from the people around you. Have you ever met someone who has joyfully hated their job?

For pity sake! Get a clue!! You've got no concept.

MOST people on this planet who have a job HATE their job. People rarely pay to just have fun and do things they like. Many people without a job envy anyone with even the suckiest job. For most people not having a job sucks way worse.

I highly suggest you read Men are Mars, and Women are from Venus. You'll get a better sense of this "indulgence" and how it actually improves relationships.

Do you enjoy being a sheep? Feel good to be part of the herd? Baaaaa!

I "highly" suggest that anyone who takes such self help drivel to heart is so far detached from reality that it's astounding. All you are doing is making the ch

Second, you don't know the difference between a troll and a different opinion or a difference in circumstance.

If you don't want to be accused of trolling, learn how to express yourself without unjustifiable personal attacks and disrespect to the person you're disagreeing with.

If the only way you can make ends meet is to work 100hr weeks or walk 6 kilometers to fetch water for your family then that is quite simply what you have to do to support them. Then, when you've done that you can talk about time with the family and time for yourself. All this self obsessed I just need me time crap requires not just survival and subsistence but prosperity. Not everyone has that.

So because some people don't have access to luxuries, those who do must spend all their leisure time attending to their children and families or they're self-obsessed? You really don't sound like you have enough experience to be excoriating others for their parenting skills.

If you don't want to be accused of trolling, learn how to express yourself without unjustifiable personal attacks and disrespect to the person you're disagreeing with.

Do you even realise the irony of calling someone a troll then spouting the above sanctimonious crap. Go look up hypocrisy on dictionary.com

If the only way you can make ends meet is to work 100hr weeks or walk 6 kilometers to

So because some people don't have access to luxuries, those who do must spend all their leisure time attending to their children and families or they're self-obsessed?

Yes, properly raising kids takes up a SIGNIFICANT proportion of your time. Is this a revelation to you? If so I sincerely hope you're not a parent. Guess what though, it's not either or! You can have fun WITH your kids. You might get some pleasure out of spending time WITH them. Otherwise don't fucking become a parent. If you don't enjoy spending time with kids - if it takes away from your "me" time - then don't fucking have them.

You really don't sound like you have enough experience to be excoriating others for their parenting skills.

Funny, that's exactly my assessment of you. You're just talking outright crap. As if you're going to burn out and turn into miserable person spending some fun time teaching your kid something or taking care of them.

If you're a parent, sure have some adult alone "me" fun time occassionally, but a family man's fun IS spending time with the kids.

I took my son to an airshow on the weekend. He's 2. My daughter's much younger and it wasn't appropriate to take her or she'd have come along as well. Guess what? I had fun. I even took a few THOUSAND photos and still managed to play with my son and point out the planes at a level he can understand. I'm not burning out.

Right on. For the GPP to make such a condemnation of the guy so completely out of context is total bullshit. For all we can know those kids will be better off having such a good first-hand demonstration of that kind of dedication and aspiration. Even if it's just a video. They could apply the lessons to whatever ends up peeking their interest.

Sorry, he took back the crown. For now. I'm assuming Mitchell isn't dead, or that at least Donkey Kong still exists and there are a few players left out there.

Someone will eventually come by and score 1,064,501 points or more. If this was important enough to Weibe to make the sacrifices he did to reclaim the crown in the first place, it'll almost certainly be just as important to him to win back the crown the next time his score gets beaten.

I find it hilarious how the post about Billy Mitchell being a douche bag prompted dozens of posts about the editing methods of the film, about how one shouldn't judge a person because of those edits, and how the movie is more fiction than reality. Someone posts that Steve Wiebe is a bad father based on the exact same film, and everyone takes it as rote truth. Love it.

I'm certain that it's with without the patch, and with the kill screen intact. I saw the movie, and the fact that the game had to play 100% original was a major sticking point that caused Wiebe's first record to be rejected. The board he got was from someone who has a beef with the organization that maintains game records. The record keeping body even went so far as to break into Wiebe's garage to look at the board. There was nothing wrong with his record, whatsoever, yet they rejected his record by vir

They didn't break into his garage, they were invited in by his grandmother.

That still sounds like breaking in to me. Maybe not from a literal point of view, but if they approached his grandmother rather than approaching him directly, and stating what their intent was, then in spirit it is breaking in. If I remember correctly, they came to his house as his wife was leaving, and she turned them away, saying that she wasn't comfortable with them messing with his game, without him being present. They then returned and asked the grandmother for entry, rather than waiting for him to

I'm not the parent, but i'd love to see you justify the connection between those two actions a little better, because they seem completely dissimilar to me, and I wouldn't expect any rational person to make that leap of logic.

1. "They" apparently weren't twin galaxies, but a competitive DK player that happened to be vacationing in the area, and had heard of the controversy.2. The mother suggested they wait in the car. After a while, the grandmother came out and had them wait in the garage, and gave them a quarter to play.3. Supposedly it was all pretty friendly when Steve came home.4. You may not agree what your parents do, but they are still adults and they have the r

They first showed up when Steve wasn't around and his wife said no, they couldn't enter the house, that they had to wait for Steve. She left then they returned to the hose and persuaded the grandmother to let them in while they were fully aware that they were not welcome in the home then went to work dismantling his property...

Not quite a break-in no, but if someone did that in my house and I came back home to find they had dismantled something of value to me... Nerd rage would be an understatement.

Is this with or without the ROM hack [jeffsromhack.com] that removes the kill screen and restores the programmer's original intent for the game?

No patches permitted. The idea isn't to see who can play best against what the programmer intended - it's to play against the same code that's shipped since 1981, because that was the code against which the first records were set.

If you wanted to see who;s currently the better player (that is, who has the best stamina/endurance/reflexes), you'd play the patched

I'd enjoy hearing how accurate the portrayals of the rivals were in The King of Kong. I bought that film after seeing it mentioned here on Slashdot; fantastic entertainment for those who recall the 1980s and younger people who aren't as acquianted with the arcade culture since the decline that happened after that decade elapsed.

In the documentary, Steve Wiebe was portrayed as a geeky underrachieving family man; all around a likable, modest chap who'd arrived at competing for Donkey Kong's high score much la

When I originally viewed it, I thought it was a documentary. After reading both sides of the issue of it's pretty clear that the film is a docu-drama and not a true documentary. The director edits the film so the story is engaging and if it paints certain individuals in a good or bad light it was for story, pace, and continuity. You have to admit that any good story requires an antagonist as well as protagonist.

Also realize that the film's producer is friends with Wiebe's friend s

just how easily people's minds are swayed by giving them the right bits of information, get people to see through an 80 minute movie and they'll come out thinking they know a person they've never actually met.

Billy Mitchell is probably no saint, but another film put the lie to the creative license practiced for the "King of Kong" filmmakers. "A Fistfull of Quarters" features several of the same Twin Galaxies regulars and is a more balanced film.

Billy Mitchell, mullet and all, is there helping Walter research and document world records. Mitchell comes off as someone who's seen cheating and attempts to steal fifteen minutes of glory (in fact FFoQ tells one such story) Made before King of Kong it does not featur

Serves me right for going from memory. Fistful of Quarters is the subtitle for King of Kong. "Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade" is another film that came out around the same time.

Chasing Ghosts is every bit as entertaining without trying to turn Billy Mitchell into a villain. He's perhaps a bit cynical, but as I pointed out he had seen some players attempt to steal records. He helps Walter in this film to document and verify several records. He speaks of some of his own former records, which he held seve

The movie may have been biased, sure. But they did not make up what the people said. The sycophants surrounding Billy are the really disturbing ones, especially his little lackey who is constantly talking behind Steve when he is trying to get high score.

While your post is childish and poorly punctuated, I think the troll rating is undeserved as you make a good point. I've even seem the movie twice and while i found it entertaining I was thinking in the back of my head "Who gives a shit about high scores is DK Jr.?"